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Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), in partnership with Malta, Inc., has completed assembly and commissioning of the first-of-a-kind pumped heat (or thermal) energy storage (PTES) demonstration facility. Long-duration, large-scale storage capabilities, like PTES, can help balance energy volatility and reliability issues caused by high market penetration of variable renewable energy resources such as solar and wind energy, and create solutions to fulfill worldwide carbon reduction goals.